Cheat on your big bank - Why it is good for your business

Remember when banking best practices meant you had a warm and close relationship with a live banker who anticipated your business needs and guided you through the shifting landscape of business banking? Those days are long gone. Thanks to consolidation, big banks increasingly are staffing branches and phone banks with order takers, while warehousing the decision-makers responsible for approving your loans in a faraway state. In the world of mega banks, size matters. So, it's likely you and your business have been reduced to a number - the ratio that represents your income to the bank relative to your draw on its resources. That's not much of a relationship. Still your business will always need a big bank for the things they do so well, like letters of credit and frequent wire transfer activities. So what is the new paradigm? What are the new "best practices?" The new business banking rule of thumb is to cheat on your big bank and have a relationship on the side with a specialized smaller bank where you can have the close, personal, mentoring relationship you want with an experienced banker and where your business can gain important strategic advantages. And your big bank never has to know. There are big advantages to having a smaller bank on the side - like lower fees, earning more interest on certain business accounts and tailored lending solutions. You can simplify your internal accounting and tax paperwork by separating accounts, and even create a hedge against cyber attacks. I am president and CEO of Savoy Bank. Savoy Bank was started six years ago by ex-big bank professionals and local business owners to fill the gap between the perception and the reality of what businesses need in a commercial bank. If you are a big developer or investor/owner with a big bank relationship, chances are your big bank will accommodate anything you bring to the table - even loans less than $3 million. But they do not like low dollar loans and will not give you the senior management attention you deserve. If you are a smaller developer or investor/owner, the big bank is unlikely to pay that much attention to your deals - especially those under $3 million. Their mantra is that it is just as much work to do a small deal is a big deal. And you're no big deal. However, you will get senior decision makers at Savoy on your smaller deals. That would be me, Mac Wilcox, or our chief loan officer, Bob Perez. Our specialty is tailoring loans to your needs and closing them quickly. Savoy Bank offers you the same support as the Big Banks with remote deposit and on-line banking but without the fees, and check deposits receive "Next Day Availability" because we know cash flow is important to your business. Savoy Bank - designed to be your other bank Savoy Bank is ideal as your second bank for accounts that can be (and sometimes should be) held by a different bank, such as operating and payroll accounts, money market, escrow, reserve and IOLA accounts. Having any of these accounts at Savoy can earn you more interest and cost you less in fees. You see, at Savoy, we make your banking simple and straight forward as we honor our traditional roots - banking simple and personable. Feeling unfaithful? As a big, well-established business with a long-term big bank relationship, you might feel a little naughty even thinking about letting your eye wander as you consider the positives of a second bank on the side. Might I suggest that we start off slow - just a cup of coffee? And see how it goes from there. Mac Wilcox is the president and CEO of Savoy Bank, New York, N.Y.